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Thursday, January 21, 2021 - paddling the upper half of The Sill; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. ©williamwisephoto.com

~ Journal: http://williamwisephoto.com/photographyblog/okefenokee-warblers

On 30.12.2021, I went on a trip to Riverstone ,Sri Lanka..... I studied about all the point endemic animals and got some informations from some university students about the bio diversity of the site before went there.....Actually ,it was a family trip.....Among all the cousins,I was the one and only one who wanted to see the point endemics or anyone that I would be interested....I went there around 1 p.m and searched everwhere that I could.... Lastly found this lovely and cool lizard..... After saw it ,I was very happy and I kept looking at it around 15 minutes .....So,I got few photos(Used NIKON P950) and suddenly started to rain there.....Then,I said good bye to this cool friend and started the hike again !!!!

This is the first Ceratophora tennentii that I saw and I love to observe these ones again in nearby future!!!!!

Pasindu Dilshan .

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Friday, January 8, 2021. Walton County, Georgia.

• Cloudy, light rain, high near 41; low around 31.
• Sunrise 7:40 am; Sunset 5:43 pm
• Daylight Hours: 10 hours, 3 minutes (+52s)
• Moon: 23.4% Waning Crescent

William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

Walton County, Georgia. ©williamwisephoto.com

• Mostly sunny, high 49°
• Sunrise 7:29 AM, sunset 6:05 PM
• Day length: 10 hours, 35 minutes
• Moon: waning gibbous, 95% illumination
• Journal: http://williamwisephoto.com/photographyblog/american-coot-with-dead-fish
  

~ William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

August, 2017, Great Egret; Walton County, Georgia.

• Overcast and humid, 79°, 60% chance of thunderstorms
• Sunrise 6:51 AM, Sunset 8:25 PM
• Day length: 13 hours, 33 minutes
• Moon: 90% waning gibbous
• Journal entry: http://williamwisephoto.com/photographyblog/great-egret-wildlife-photography-blog

~ William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

When I woke up this morning I didn't know I'd be taking a selfie with a duck. Or running after it as it tried to take off from a wet road, which they never can. Or driving one-handed to release it at the nearest body of water. Any similarity between our hair is coincidental. Rescue mission: successful! The duck is on the left.

A White-tailed Deer crosses the roadway to the entrance of the Stephen C Foster State Park campgound; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. March 11, 2015.

~ Do you love the Okefenokee? Join the iNat Okefenokee Photography Project and follow the Okefenokee Photography blog. If you have an Okefenokee blog post or journal, message me the URL through my iNat profile page and I’ll post it in the project. Thanks for contributing and for be a lover of this great piece of earth, the Okefenokee Swamp! William

Wednesday, 9:20 AM - heard its call from within a tangle of Trumpet Vine, honeysuckle and sumac. Briefly drew it into view with a bit of playback. http://williamwisephoto.com/photographyblog/humid-birding-walk-in-walton-georgia

~ William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

Male Pachydiplax longipennis being eaten by Opheodrys aestivus

Like a lot of these predation shots I heard the irregular beat of frantic, chafing wings before locating the scene.

I was taken aback when I first realized what was happening. That quickly wore off though and I was on the ground trying to get as close as possible without disrupting or having any meaningful influence on the situation.

Two great predators. In the end the dasher broke free and clumsily flew off (though he was lucky there were birds looking for an easy catch). I can't say for sure whether or not I played any part in the snake not succeeding in this struggle. If it were venomous I think (though I don't know if venomous snakes spend their venom on dragonflies or if they specialize in more protein-rich options) the dasher would've been done for.

But, the snake maneuvering his jaws to clamp down on the dragonfly gave some room for escape--especially since his jaws were over the thorax and wings, which were already beating trying to escape.

Anhinga bird perched atop a large Pond Cypress tree with Spanish Moss. Billy`s Lake on the Suwannee River canoe kayak trail. Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia, USA. Nature journal entry: http://williamwisephoto.com/photographyblog/anhinga-bird-perched-atop-large-pond-cypress-tree-spanish-moss

~ Want to explore the great Okefenokee Swamp? Join the Okefenokee Photography Project here on iNaturalist! and follow the Okefenokee Photography Blog at https://okefenokee.photography/. Thanks! William

An angry Northern Mockingbird gives me the "evil eye" as I check on its nest below my office window. http://williamwisephoto.com/photographyblog/mockingbird-nest-eggs-georgia-backyard-birding

~ William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

The Green Anoles uses the pink dewlap in establishing territory. He will also bob up and down, or do push-ups, as part of this territorial display.

William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

Both subsp. americanus (native to North America) and subsp. australis (introduced to North America) are found at this site, sometimes growing intermixed. In the photos the former is indicated with an “N” and the latter with an “I”. On the date I visited this site, 16 September 2019, these are the differences I observed with living stems between the two subspecies:

•Relative stem height: subsp. americanus usually shorter, subsp. australis usually taller.
•Relative stem spacing: subsp. americanus usually more dispersed, subsp. australis usually denser (rarely solitary).
•Stem breaking: subsp. americanus fibrous and hard to break off, subsp. australis often breaks off easily.
•Stem color (lower/older internodes): subsp. americanus red and often shiny, subsp. australis yellow-green and not shiny.
•Stem texture (lower/older internodes): subsp. americanus smooth, subsp. australis minutely ridged.
•Stem & leaf sheath dots: subsp. americanus often present, subsp. australis absent.
•Leaf condition: subsp. americanus has lots of senescence, subsp. australis generally are healthy.
•Margins of upper leaves near panicle: subsp. americanus finely serrated, subsp. australis coarsely serrated.
•Sterile stems more abundant than fertile: subsp. americanus yes, subsp. australis no.
•Panicle branches for panicles of similar length: subsp. americanus fewer, subsp. australis more.
•Panicle branch spacing: subsp. americanus farther, subsp. australis closer.
•Flowering status: subsp. americanus finished flowering, subsp. australis flowering.

There probably are other characteristics I overlooked that distinguish these two subspecies from each other. Perhaps these characteristics listed above hold up at other sites in North America. I don’t use leaf color to tell them apart because although some clones of subsp. australis are strongly blue-green, some clones of that subspecies are more green or yellow-green. See this observation for an illustration: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30610594

Observation of P. australis subsp. americanus from this location: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/32878566

Observation of P. australis subsp. australis from this location: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/32888630

I saw this bird walking in front of my car and my window was cracked so I thought I'd be silly and say "Hello" but I was not expecting the bird to actually respond in any manner. Made for a good photo though!